Ryder was tapping her hand impatiently on the rail before her, eyes fixed on her fellow Pathfinders. Since she had boarded the Archon's ship, time seemed to have passed by in a blur. She'd thrown herself into action, only delaying her return to the Nexus to follow up on some intel she had received from Drack regarding the Krogan colony on Elaaden. She had kept herself so purposefully busy she hadn't realised how long it was that she'd kept Reyes waiting for a response. Well, perhaps that wasn't entirely true. Every time she had thought about messaging him she'd also thought about having to tell him the truth of what happened with the Archon, and a cold sweat would creep across her brow and down her back. When she did eventually talk to him a singular thought played in her mind, I died, I died, I died, until she allowed herself to be distracted by the lull of his voice, and the humour of his words and she returned to some state of normalcy, her breathing less constricted, her mind unfogged. Then he had gone and the intense fugue that was plaguing her had returned, crushing, draining.

"Ryder?" Avitus Rix was staring at her, and she realised he had posed her a question. After being infuriatingly stonewalled by the Nexus leadership when she had proposed going after Meridian, the other Pathfinders had stepped up in support of Ryder. All three were looking at her expectantly, and yet she felt barely able to utter a word, her mind having wandered back to that darkened room, the pain in her heart, the complete and utter nothingness…

"Pathfinder, apologies. There was an urgent message for you - they said your brother is awake," Tann's Aide informed her, from her desk.

"What?" she gasped, her attention immediately returning to the present

"Go, we'll talk later in the Tech Lab." Pathfinder Raeka said, ushering her out of the room.

"There you are!" Scott grinned at her.

She threw herself into his arms almost a little too hard as Scott grunted slightly, and Harry Carlyle chuckled, "Careful!"

Doctors bustled past them in the still too crowded cryo bay, the hubbub of voices of patients just waking still droned in the background, but it all dissolved away for Ryder. The only thing present was her brother. Her fingers slid over his wrist, feeling the steady pulse drumming beneath them soothe her own as, briefly, they beat in time. It was as if, for a moment, all her troubles had subsided, all her fears alleviated by the very fact that her twin was finally with her at last. This was how Andromeda was supposed to be. The arm over her shoulder was weak but it would strengthen, he was shaken by the death of the father but he would never be alone in his grief, not like her.

"Sara you're starting to restrict my blood flow," Scott wheezed.

"Sorry," she grinned, pulling away from him. "Don't you think you've slept in long enough?"

Despite her smile, she scrutinised every aspect of her brother's face, his demeanour, for signs of pain or discomfort. There were dark circles around his eyes, even though he hadn't been fully conscious for 600 years. Where Sara naturally tanned under the sun, Scott was pale and, due to current trauma, his skin was almost white, though less grey than when she had last visited him. Though a crooked smile slid naturally over his lips, there was an underlying fragility to his movements that she immediately identified, no matter how hard he tried to conceal it. As the older twin, she had always felt protective of Scott, even when they were small. With great affection, she ruffled a hand through his dishevelled hair, it was the same chestnut as hers if she kept it her natural colour. Suddenly, she was reminded of sitting him on their kitchen counter when they were 7, her mopping up a cut on his face as he bawled.

"I thought it was Saturday. Then Sunday. Then I figured someone turned off the alarm," Scott retorted, with the same quickness that she herself often did.

"Well, I sure missed having you around. We hit a few rough patches on the way," Ryder sat on the bed next to him.

Blue eyes almost identical to her own met hers, "I'm sorry I wasn't there when dad died."

Ryder sighed, "It was… all a blur really. It wouldn't have made a difference, no one could have done anything to change it."

"Thank you for telling me, it can't have been an easy choice," he replied, his eyes reflecting her own pain.

"It wasn't, I thought I'd nearly killed you when I passed on the news," Ryder shook her head, "it's still weird accepting he's really gone, y'know?"

Scott nodded soberly, "Yeah. He always seemed so indestructible, except with mom of course." He nudged her arm. "Which is exactly why he wouldn't want us moping around, Ryder stiff upper lip and all."

"We definitely take after mom," she smiled at him, "especially you."

"Why?"

"I'm not the one that cried at the end of Fleet and Flotilla 2, Scott."

"Sara, Heirax died? You have a heart of stone."

"Maybe I'm just not a hopeless romantic like you."

"Whatever you say, sis."

It felt good to see the light in his eyes brighten, a reassuring warmth spilling from them with a brilliance that her own cooler blue ones could never quite match.

"And Andromeda, it's not all as bad as you think. I mean, yes, there is a terrifying race of hideous, white-eyed, aliens that have a sort of… vorcha had sex with a crab vibe, but other than that…" she grinned at him enthusiastically, "I have so many amazing things to tell you."

"Yeah, I hear you're the Honourable Madam Pathfinder," Scott responded, quirking his eyebrow.

Ryder winced, "Hey, I didn't ask for it."

"Well, you don't have to be the lone rider anymore," he laughed, a little too hard, at his own joke, "get it, lone RYDER?"

She pressed her face into her hands, "You are just the absolute worst."

"I know. This is why I need to be out there…" Scott tried to stand, as soon as he did so his legs buckled. Ryder stood quickly and caught him, lowering him back into a sitting position. Dr Carlyle rushed over and fussed around him until he laid back in bed.

Ryder sat beside him, "Bet you feel a little out of the loop, huh? Those aliens I was telling you about… the kett. They follow the Archon, he's an absolute nutjob-"

"Didn't he… kill you?"

Ryder blinked confusedly, "What?"

"I shouldn't have been eavesdropping, but I heard your name and well… It's not like I could have moved out of earshot to give you privacy. When I woke up Harry was on a call with, I'm guessing, your ship's doctor."

Scott reached out to touch her hand, but she flinched.

"Sara, I'm sorry…"

The small warmth that had kindled inside her at her brother's presence threatened to die out with her words, "It's just… It's the second time this has happened, the second time I've died, technically."

"What?" Scott stared at her, aghast.

"When we first came to Helius, Dad died saving me, Scott. We went out onto what was supposed to be our golden world, but it was a fucking hellhole. We tried to activate this... alien planet terraformer, I'll explain later, but it exploded with this energy and my helmet got blown open. I couldn't breathe… Dad didn't even hesitate, he gave me his…" words were spilling out of her at a pace so she stopped herself, cautious of overloading her brother with information.

"I didn't know… Guess he really did love us, in his own way," Scott said, sounding subdued.

Sara nodded, "And then a couple of months later, I spit in the face of his sacrifice by marching onto the Archon's ship, knowing how dangerous it was. I was caught in this field and SAM had to stop my heart to get me out of it… I almost didn't come back."

"Pathfinder, I had no idea you felt that way. I'm sorry if you felt I was disrespecting your father's memory, that was not my intention," SAM interjected.

"I know SAM, I don't blame you."

"Sounds like you've been through hell," Scott sounded frustrated, "and I've just been laid here, useless."

"Don't say that," she touched his arm.

Although it eased the tension in her shoulders to finally talk about it, she knew it wasn't the right time to unburden the complex shades of her mental state, to discuss how much her death had shaken her. She swiftly changed the subject.

"Like I said, some of the things we've seen…"

Ryder proceeded to fill her brother in on the things he had missed, about the harsh planets she'd visited and the strange, beautiful creatures that inhabited them. She enthused about the angara, explained the situation between the exiles and the Nexus, and they both wondered over the identity of the suspicious benefactor Ryder had uncovered. She began telling him about the oddball family she had forged on the Tempest when her omni-tool flashed, and she realised the other Pathfinders were still waiting for her.

"I better go, Scott," she stood up abruptly, "it's urgent."

"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere," Scott paused, "Sara, you are okay, aren't you?"

Ryder wasn't sure what would happen if she opened up about her real feelings about her death. The façade she wore every day was her armour, and if she let it slip, even for a second, it would fall, clanging to the ground.

She arranged her features into what she hoped was a convincing smile, "Of course. I'll come back to visit as soon as I can. Make sure you rest."

As she left she squeezed his arm, breathing a sigh of relief as the doors of the med bay closed behind her. More than one of her team members had commented that she looked a little vacant at the moment, as though always lost in thought, and she was glad of their teasing for once, as they'd put her demeanour down to being lovesick. It was different with Scott. Throughout her life Scott had been the one person whom she could consistently rely on and, no matter the distance between them, they were fiercely close. They'd had to be, with a father who felt as though he were absent even when he was in the room and a mother that loved them ceaselessly but whose life had been tragically cut short. Unlike the others, he would have seen right through her protestations if she had given him the chance.

After setting plans in motion for Meridian with the other Pathfinders and a rather hurried interview with Keri T'vessa, Ryder returned to the Tempest. She made her way swiftly past Peebee's escape pod turned bedroom, eager to avoid any further probing questions from the insistent, irrepressible asari. Since her night with Reyes, Peebee had been looking for opportunities to interrogate Ryder, but luckily things had been so hectic recently that she'd been able to avoid her for the most part. The morning they left Kadara, to placate her when Peebee had cornered her in the kitchen, Ryder had muttered, "Put it this way, the codename Shena is very fitting."

Peebee had looked at her round-eyed, and Ryder had used this opportunity to slink out of the room, only to hear Peebee say, "Shena…? Mouth? OH."

Had the incident not happened on the Archon's ship, Ryder supposed she wouldn't have minded the fuss. Right now, she'd probably be welcoming the opportunity to share her thoughts with someone, since she'd kept the extent of her feelings for Reyes concealed for so long. They'd all seen them flirting, anyone who'd been in her party at the time would've found it hard to miss, but until more recently none of the crew had ever taken it seriously. Ryder knew she should still be savouring it, the heart-hammering, stomach-flipping sensations that coursed through her whenever she thought about him, or when she relived certain breathless moments in her mind. Instead, most of the time she had felt numb.

Ryder found Lexi in her clinic as she'd hoped.

"Ryder?"

She was careful to make sure her statement didn't sound like an accusation, "Lexi, did you talk to Harry about me… dying?"

Lexi looked immediately affronted, "I have done nothing to break patient confidentiality, nor would I. Harry had heard about the events aboard the Archon's ship, which in itself is worrying as the Initiative leadership seems to have been a bit slack with this information, anyway, I told him you seemed to be dealing with it as well as could be expected and we spoke no more of it."

"I know Lexi, I wasn't trying to imply you were. It's just Scott brought it up and I just wanted to make sure you weren't overly concerned. I'm fine."

"Ryder, outside of our discussion with SAM about his role in what happened, we still have not had a conversation about it. I know you are resilient, but this is not something you just get over in a matter of days," Lexi reasoned, her eyes watching her closely.

Ryder squirmed beneath her gaze which felt as though it pierced right through her, down to her bones.

"Thankfully because I'm clearly a superior, higher level of being, I'm fine," she quipped.

"You can't disguise everything with humour."

"You just watch me," Ryder replied defiantly, folding her arms.

"Well if you don't want to talk me you should at least talk to someone else about this. Your brother…"

"Has only just woken up from a coma and doesn't need my baggage."

"SAM…"

"Is still learning about human emotions from me, Lexi. Y'know, the one not dealing with her emotions and deflecting with witty remarks?"

"Good point," she thought. "What about Reyes?"

Ryder's skin suddenly felt hot and not a comforting warmth, more of a creeping, feverish feeling.

"What about him?"

"I know you're only just at the beginning of your relationship but if he truly cares about you then I'm sure you could talk to him."

"Bit difficult considering I haven't told him."

"Ryder!" Lexi admonished her. "How would you feel if you were in his shoes?"

"Weird because I'd have a di-"

"Ryder." Her voice was firm this time.

Ryder sighed. She remembered the creeping feeling she'd had back in the cave in Draulir, when she'd imagined Sloane killing Reyes. The idea that he could be lying there cold somewhere, the spark drained from his eyes, the familiar smiled ripped from his lips, and she didn't know… It sent a bitter chill through her, worse than anything she'd felt on Voeld, as though she were freezing from the inside. Although she couldn't be sure how deep his attachment to her was, it was always so difficult to be sure of anything with him, she had to admit that he'd probably want to know.

"I'll tell him," Ryder relented, "well, I'll try… He's not exactly forthcoming with his own problems, either."

"Well, maybe you should lead by example," Lexi smiled in a self-satisfied fashion.

"Ugh," Ryder groaned, "I hate it when you're right."

Lexi gave another of her penetrating stares, "Think about what I have said, Sara. Your mental health is just as important as your physical wellbeing in helping or hindering your abilities as Pathfinder. We will be having another discussion about this, soon."

"You sound like my mother."

"That's my job."

Ryder slouched out of Lexi's clinic, feeling slightly like a naughty child but also a little lighter. Although the idea of telling Reyes what had happened still made her chest tighten uncomfortably, the thought of seeing him again alleviated this considerably. She thought of his last email. He had ended it: Thinking of you always, Reyes. Her heart skipped in response.

"We're getting nothing, sir," a gruff voice crackled over the comm.

"Then hit him again," came the cold, swift response.

There was a crunching sound as a gloved fist connected with mandibles. In the darkened room the screen was the only light. A man was reclining in his chair exhaling smoke as he talked, wafting it aside as it filtered in front of the screen. He ran a hand frustratedly through his dark hair, eyes fixed on the display before him. At its centre was a turian tied to a chair, his face was thick with dark blue blood as it streamed from his nose and mouth. One of his eyes was sealed shut due to swelling. Despite the tortured shaking of his limbs, the turian recovered quickly, sitting back up, his head held high in quiet defiance. He didn't say a word. A grim-looking asari was stalking around him, her fist alight with the blue haze of her biotics.

The voice that was emitting from the man's omni-tool was insistent, "I don't think this tactic will work with him"

The asari on the screen repeated her question, her voice cool, "What can you tell me about Sloane's operation?"

His mandibles clicked as the turian laughed, his voice cold, "Tell the Charlatan this. He and his pathfinder are marked for death. It's only a matter of time."

The voice sounded stunned, "We've been at it for 3 hours and that's the first time he's uttered a word."

"Hit him. Harder."

This message was relayed and without a word, the asari kicked the turian in the chest. Assisted by her biotics the chair upturned, and he was sent sprawling onto his back. The turian lay there, coughing and spluttering as his own blood filled his throat.

The man let out an impatient noise, "Sit him back up before he chokes to death."

"We'll give him a break, then try something else."

"Fine. But you should know the Charlatan expects results."

There was a pause.

"Understood."

Reyes disconnected the call with a grimace, before slamming his fist on the surface before him, frustrated.

He. His pathfinder.

What did Kaetus know?